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Recent news reports indicate that not only are our police to be given cameras capable of automatically reading vehicle number plates but they will also get in-car computers to allow databased checks to be performed on the roadside.

Of course "only those with something to hide have anything to fear" -- but it is perhaps worth marking this as yet another milestone as we edge ever-closer to 1984.

The problem (as always) lies not with the use of such technology -- but its misuse.

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Naturally there are plenty of straight-faced politicians who will tell us all that there will be ample checks and safeguards put in place to avoid such devices from being used in appropriately. Unfortunately, politicians don't have a very good track-record when it comes to standing by their words or always acting ethically or within the rules.

In fact, the current government is led by someone who's already been done for defamation, been accused of art fraud, being the commander in chief of a vehicle seen to have been speeding at more than 160Kph, and now faces charges of misusing taxpayer money in respect to election spending.

We should also cast our minds back to when speed cameras were first introduced.

Once again, with straight faces, our politicians told us that these cameras would only be used in black spots and would not be hidden. Now, just a few short years later, it appears they're more likely to be found in places where they'll generate the most revenue (ie: at the end of passing lanes where a small excess speed is not only safe but inevitable) and where they're least likely to be seen (ie: behind trees or in otherwise invisible spots).

So who's to say that we're not gradually working our way towards the situation where every traffic movement in the country is captured on camera and stored in a database?

Yes, this would be great news for establishing the movements of criminals or verifying/disputing someone's alibi in the case of a serious crime -- but how long before such data falls into the wrong hands?

Just as debt collectors found it very convenient to get address details from rogue workers at the IRD a few years back -- how long before private investigators find people with access who'll pass on the movement details of a suspected cheating spouse?

Could it be that if we're not very careful, within a very few years, privacy may be little more than a word in a history-book.

Is this a use or misuse of technology?

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